1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to sensor systems and methods for fluid monitoring. More particularly, the disclosure relates to sensor systems and methods for fluid (e.g., water) quality data gathering including on-line fluid quality monitoring by means of sensors with wired or wireless connections to a communications network (e.g., the Internet), for access and visualization of fluid quality data over the Internet via a graphical web-browser interface, and for sharing of such data via the Internet.
2. Background Information
The quality and surety of drinking water is of ever increasing importance throughout the world. Contaminants, such as toxins, biological agents, inorganic compounds and particulate matter that enter a contiguous water distribution system either naturally, or are purposely placed there as a terrorist act, have the capacity to diminish the quality of the water to an unacceptable level, and each member of the population, whether human or other life form, is at risk of exposure to water of such substandard quality. Water can become contaminated at its source, whether that be from wells, rivers, reservoirs or treatment plants, or can become contaminated once the water is introduced into a contiguous water distribution system. Regardless of its source or type, water quality degradation can have a significant detrimental health affect that can sometimes be seen quickly and often times is not recognized or detected for years or even decades.
Measures have been taken for monitoring the quality of drinking water including placing monitors at various points in the source water, in water treatment plants, and/or at selected distribution points of water distribution pipe networks within a region of a water authority, for instance. The selection, access to appropriate sites and acquisition/placement of water quality monitoring components and systems tend to be labor intensive and costly for a regional or multi-regional water authority to implement. This high cost and significant on-going maintenance requirement for remote monitoring systems has severely limited the number of locations monitored and is the primary reason that most testing is performed on a low-volume basis by bringing “grab samples” of water back to a laboratory for testing. Several considerations are at issue: the density of testing (i.e., how many locations in a reservoir or within a city should be monitored to protect the population from exposure, e.g., each city block or within a 5-block, 10-block or 20-block area); the frequency of testing (e.g., whether taking a grab sample once a month for a given location is sufficient to protect the population); and the time delay in receiving “actionable” data about contamination that may already be affecting tens of thousands of people by virtue of the testing being done on a non-continuous basis.
Additionally, many water quality sensors create false positives, or false negatives, in determining substandard water conditions. These false positives can be expensive insofar as they require investigation and repair of a sensor node and could even result in the shut-down of a water distribution system section or, more commonly, an alert that disrupts a population's use of water. False negatives can be even more costly if hazardous conditions are not timely detected.
Further, the need for sharing of water quality measurements, particularly in real time, is of ever increasing importance. Not only do regional water authorities need real time measures of water quality to improve system performance, multiregional (e.g., county, province, state or national) water authorities desire original data whether in the form of raw data or analyzed results of the water quality in a particular water distribution region. This information can be used to assure compliance with water quality standards, for instance. This information is generally provided by the regional water authorities, which may not have sufficient incentives to provide completely candid reports. Also, in these uncertain times, real time awareness of possible or actual sabotage can be of critical importance, if only to provide assurance to the general population that the water supply is safe.
Thus, there is a need for improvements in sensing whether a municipal, industrial or even home water purification/treatment system is operating properly and providing water of a certain quality. This can be particularly important when a municipality places water treatment equipment in remote locations to selectively or more cost effectively treat water instead of treating the entire bulk water at the municipality.
Finally, there is a need to confirm the purity and surety of water sold as pure from a commercial water treatment system in order to verify manufacturers claims of providing pure water.